Although now on display in a new museum, the objects at Perth Museum form amongst the oldest public collections in the UK. Founded in 1784, the Perth Literary and Antiquarian Society collected material from across the world. Its collection profile evolved in tandem with British imperial expansion through the late 18th and 19th centuries. This talk explores a group of musical instruments collected by the society, examining their stories and the circumstances of their ‘acquisition.’ From present-day Myanmar and Iran, to the west coast of Canada and Aotearoa, these instruments reflect the cultural practises of those communities who made and used them, as well as the exercise of imperial dominance, and resulting devaluing and erasure of those cultural practises.

The 7-year development of Perth Museum’s World Cultures Gallery, which brought together curators, artists and communities from Vancouver to Wellington sits alongside a broader reassessment of how the museum can begin to address imperial legacies and persistent abuses of power.

JP Reid is Exhibitions and Interpretation Manager for Culture Perth & Kinross (CPK) based at Perth Museum and Perth Art Gallery. From 2017, he was the exhibition lead for the redevelopment of the former City Hall into the new Perth Museum, managing the creation of permanent galleries and the Stone of Destiny display. He was the lead curator on the museum’s inaugural temporary exhibition, Unicorn which explored the history of Scotland’s national animal from Pliny to Pride, and which won the Museums Association: Museums Change Lives Award 2024.